SpaceX will bring Dragon home to the Pacific Thursday morning

A shot from NASA TV shows the Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station. (NASA)

HAWTHORNE, California -- Think berthing a Dragon is hard? SpaceX says it's not easy bringing one safely home, either. The California space company will attempt to rewind last week's docking Thursday and splash its Dragon capsule in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX became the first private company to dock a capsule to the station Friday. The original plan was to keep Dragon there for up to 18 days. "(The schedule) was dependent on the astronauts' work schedules," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said Tuesday. But since the astronauts were able to get right to unloading and reloading Dragon, SpaceX is ready to bring it home.

A lot of people think that's easy, Grantham said, at least compared to the precision maneuvers executed by Dragon's thrusters to approach the station last week. But firing those thrusters just right to bring Dragon out of orbit where and when SpaceX wants is a challenge, too, Grantham said.

"Not many people have done it," she said. SpaceX is one of those who have done it -- once. The company brought a Dragon safely home in 2010 on its launch system's first demonstration flight.

The plan is to dunk the Dragon in the Pacific within a few miles of a recovery ship that will be in position. Grantham said the company can't guarantee TV footage of the splashdown, but SpaceX is confident Dragon won't land too far from the recovery ship.

On board the Dragon when it returns will be scientific experiments and used equipment no longer needed on the station. Dragon took more than 1,000 pounds of non-essential, but useful, food and supplies up with it.

According to a schedule released Tuesday, which contains approximate times, Dragon will be detached from the space station Thursday at around 3 a.m. CDT and released from the station's robotic arm at about 5:10 a.m. CDT.

Thrusters will fire for the deorbit burn at 9:51 a.m. CDT, and parachutes should open at about 10:30 a.m. Splashdown is tentatively scheduled for 10:44 a.m. CDT.

A successful Dragon return will allow SpaceX to move forward on a series of unmanned supply flights to the station. It has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for two flights a year over the next six years.

SpaceX will also continue to develop Dragon as a capsule capable of carrying crew to and from the station. The company also announced a contract Tuesday with Intelsat to lift at least one satellite into the space with its heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket when it is built and ready.